Russian, Turkish presidents meet as Syria violence continues

March 05, 2020

MOSCOW (AP) — The Turkish and Russian presidents are set to hold talks in Moscow aimed at ending hostilities in northwestern Syria involving their forces along with proxies that threaten to pit Turkey against Russia in a direct military conflict

Before the latest crisis, President Vladimir Putin and his Turkish counterpart President Recep Tayyip Erdogan had managed to coordinate their interests in Syria even though Moscow backed Syrian President Bashar Assad while Ankara supported its foes throughout Syria's nine-year war. Both Russia and Turkey appear eager to avoid a showdown, but the sharply conflicting interests in Idlib province make it difficult to negotiate a mutually acceptable compromise.

A Russia-backed Syrian offensive to regain control over Idlib — the last opposition-controlled region in the country — has pushed nearly a million Syrians toward Turkey. Erdogan responded by opening Turkey's gateway to Europe in an apparent bid to coerce the West to offer more support to Ankara.

Turkey has sent thousands of troops into Idlib to repel the Syrian army, and clashes on the ground and in the air that have left dozens dead on both sides. Russia, which has helped Assad reclaim most of the country’s territory, has signaled it wouldn't sit idle to see Turkey rout his troops.

After Turkey had downed several Syrian jets, Moscow warned Ankara that its aircraft would be unsafe if they enter Syrian airspace — a veiled threat to engage Russian military assets in Syria. Russian warplanes based in Syria have provided air cover for Assad's offensive in Idlib.

Opposition activists in Idlib blamed Russian aircraft for Thursday's strike on a rebel-held village which they said killed at least 15 people, including children, and wounded several others. The Russian military had no immediate comment on the claim, but it has staunchly denied similar previous claims insisting it hasn't targeted residential areas.

The fighting in Idlib comes as the most severe test to Russia-Turkey ties since the crisis triggered by Turkey's downing of a Russian warplane near the Syrian border in November 2015. Russia responded with an array of sweeping economic sanctions, cutting the flow of its tourists to Turkey and banning most Turkish exports — a punishment that eventually forced Turkey to back off and offer apologies.

Turkey can't afford a replay of that costly crisis, far less a military conflict with a nuclear power, but it has a strong position to bargain with. Moscow needs Ankara as a partner in a Syrian settlement and Russia's supply routes for its forces in Syria lie through the Turkish Straits.

Moscow also hopes to use Ankara in its standoff with the West. Last year, Turkey became the first NATO country to take delivery of sophisticated Russian air defense missile systems, angering the United States. Turkey has put its deployment on hold amid the crisis in Idlib.

The talks in Moscow will mark the 10th encounter in just over a year between Putin and Erdogan, who call each other “dear friend” and have polished a fine art of bargaining. Last October, they reached an agreement to deploy their forces across Syria's northeastern border to fill the void left by President Donald Trump's abrupt withdrawal of U.S. forces. Prior to that they had negotiated a series of accords that saw opposition fighters from various areas in Syria move into Idlib and in 2018 carved out a de-escalation zone in Idlib.

They blamed one another for the collapse of the Idlib deal, with Moscow holding Ankara responsible for letting al-Qaida linked militants launch attacks from the area and Turkey accusing Moscow of failing to rein in Assad.

A possible compromise on Idlib could see Assad retain control over the key M5 highway, which his forces claimed in the latest offensive. The road that spans Syria linking Damascus with Aleppo, the country's commercial capital, is essential for Assad to consolidate his rule.

In a sign that the Kremlin firmly intends to secure control of the M5, earlier this week Russian military police have deployed to a strategic town of Saraqeb sitting on the highway to ward off any Turkish attempt to retake it.

In return, Putin could accept the presence of Turkey-backed militants in the areas alongside the border and put brakes for now on Assad's attempts to claim full control over Idlib.

Putin's new amendments revere God, ban same sex marriages

March 02, 2020

MOSCOW (AP) — Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday submitted a slew of new proposed amendments to the country's Constitution that include a mention of God and describe marriage as a heterosexual union.

Putin first proposed amending the constitution in January's state-of-the-nation speech, saying it is necessary to broaden the powers of parliament and bolster democracy. Kremlin foes have described the proposed changes as part of Putin's efforts to remain in charge after his current six-year term ends in 2024.

The Kremlin-controlled parliament quickly endorsed Putin's draft in the first of three required readings last month, and is set to give it the final approval next week, setting the stage for a nationwide vote on April 22.

Following up on proposals from a Kremlin working group that worked in parallel with lawmakers, Putin on Monday presented 24 pages of additional amendments for the second reading set for March 10. Lawmakers say they include an article that points to a millennium-long Russian history and pledges homage to “ancestors who bequeathed to us their ideals and a belief in God."

The amendment follows a proposal by the Russian Orthodox Church to add a reference to God to the Constitution. Another amendment describes marriage as a "union of a man and a woman," a wording in sync with Putin's long-stated opposition to same-sex marriages.

The president also responded to a working group member's suggestion to add wording that would prevent any future Russian ruler from giving away Ukraine's Crimea — annexed from Ukraine in 2014 — or any other territory. He added an amendment that prohibits surrendering any part of Russian territory and outlaws making calls for that.

Another proposal underlines a special status of Russians as a “state-forming” ethnic group while pledging to protect the nation's other ethnic groups. And in sync with proposals to outlaw disparaging the Soviet role in WW II victory, Putin added an article pledging to protect “historic truth” and forbid "belittling the people's heroic protection of the Motherland."

The amendment comes as Russia prepares to celebrate the 75th anniversary of victory in World War II — the nation's most important holiday. The new set of amendments doesn't offer any clue, however, what position Putin may take to continue calling the shots after his term ends. The 67-year-old Russian leader has been in power for more than 20 years, making him the nation's longest-serving leader since Soviet dictator Josef Stalin.

Putin boasts about new Russian weapons, calls them defensive

March 02, 2020

MOSCOW (AP) — President Vladimir Putin says that Russia has developed unique offense weapons without the intention of starting a war with anyone but to maintain “strategic balance” and “strategic stability” in the world.

“We are not going to fight against anyone. We are going to create conditions so that nobody wants to fight against us,” Putin said in an interview with the state-run Tass news agency, a part of which was released Monday.

The three-hour long interview marks Putin's 20 years in power and is being divided into 20 parts being released over a period of weeks and each dedicated to a separate issue. In episodes that have already been released, Russia's leader talked about the recent government reshuffle, Ukraine, mass protests in Moscow this summer and the use of modern technology.

Russia has created “offensive strike systems the world has never seen," and which are forcing the U.S. to try to catch up, Putin told Tass. As an example, the president mentioned new “hypersonic offensive systems" — a weapon that can fly 27 times the speed of sound that became operational late last year. He said that in the past 20 years the share of modern equipment in the Russian military has grown from 6% to 70%.

“This is a unique situation," Putin said. Having these systems in place allows the Kremlin to “maintain strategic stability and strategic balance” that the U.S. tried to “upset” with their missile defense systems, the president added.

“It is essential not only for us, but also for global security,” Putin concluded. The Kremlin has made military modernization its top priority as its relations with the West soured after Russia's annexation of Ukraine's Crimea in 2014. Putin first mentioned developing some of the new hypersonic weapons in his state of the nation address in March 2018.

Last year, he described a buildup of NATO's forces near Russia's western borders and the U.S. withdrawal from the 1987 Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces treaty as being among the top security threats to Russia.

Putin rejected offer to use body doubles during Chechen war

February 27, 2020

MOSCOW (AP) — Russian President Vladimir Putin said he had rejected an offer to use body doubles for personal protection during a conflict in Chechnya. Speaking in an interview with the news agency Tass, another segment of which was released Thursday, Putin said the plan dated back to the early 2000s.

He said that it “came at the most difficult moment of fighting terrorism.” In the early 2000s, Russia was fighting a war against separatists in Chechnya who also launched attacks elsewhere in the country. Putin visited troops in Chechnya hours after predecessor Boris Yeltsin stepped down on Dec. 31, 1999. He later said that a helicopter he was using came under fire during that trip.

Putin also made several other trips to Chechnya while fighting was still raging there. During one of those trips in March 2000, Putin flew into Chechnya in the seat of a second pilot in a fighter jet.

Putin didn't elaborate on his motives behind rejecting the proposal to have body doubles. The 67-year-old former KGB agent who has ruled Russia for more than 20 years also reaffirmed that he has continued to shun a personal cellphone. He said that he feels “more comfortable" relying on protected communications means and may occasionally use an aide's phone.

Kremlin group sets date for constitutional vote

February 26, 2020

The working group's choice of April 22 coincides with the 150th anniversary of the birth of Vladimir Lenin, the Soviet Union's first leader. Neither group members nor Putin commented on whether the timing was purposeful or a coincidence.

Speaking at the meeting, Putin welcomed proposed amendments to emphasize respect for Russia's history spanning from the time of the Czars to the Soviet Union. Putin, the longest-serving Russian leader since Soviet dictator Josef Stalin after more than 20 years in power, has in the past lamented the collapse of the Soviet Union as the “greatest geopolitical catastrophe of the 20th century.”

But he has also deplored the 1917 breakup of the Russian Empire and often criticized Lenin for designing the Soviet Union along ethnic lines and granting the right of secession to its republics — decisions that Putin has said paved the path to its collapse.

When Putin first proposed changes to the constitution last month, they were widely seen as part of his efforts to remain in charge after his current presidential term ends in 2024. But the Kremlin draft didn't offer clues to how he might accomplish that goal and it remained unclear why he is moving now to get the constitution changed.

The meeting on Wednesday didn't shed any light on the reasons behind the sweeping constitutional reform. Putin has argued that the changes in the constitution he proposed in a state-of-the-nation speech on Jan. 15 are intended to boost the powers of parliament and strengthen democracy. But the proposals also maintain and even strengthen presidential powers — something Putin described as a must for the country.

Some have suggested that Putin, who served two consecutive terms in 2000-2008 and is currently serving the second of another pair of consecutive terms, may use the constitutional reform as a peg to launch a new count.

Vladislav Surkov, who earlier this month lost his job as the Kremlin adviser on Ukraine but pledged his unwavering loyalty to Putin, made that argument in an interview published Wednesday. “The logic of law makes it necessary to start a new count of presidential terms,” he said.

Asked about Surkov’s comment, Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Surkov was expressing his personal opinion as a private citizen. Members of the working group created by Putin also dismissed the idea of restarting the term count.

“There is no foundation behind that from the legal viewpoint,” the group’s co-chairman, Pavel Krasheninnikov said after Wednesday’s meeting.

1 year later, New Zealand mosque attacks alter many lives

March 13, 2020

CHRISTCHURCH, New Zealand (AP) — Fifty-one people were killed and dozens more injured when a lone gunman attacked two mosques in Christchurch last year. New Zealanders will commemorate those who died on the anniversary of the mass killing Sunday. Three people whose lives were forever altered that day say it has prompted changes in their career aspirations, living situations and in the way that others perceive them.

Aya Al-Umari

Aya’s older brother Hussein, 35, was killed in the attack at the Al Noor mosque

When she first heard there had been a shooting at the mosque, Aya Al-Umari rushed to her brother’s house and then to the Christchurch Hospital, hoping to find out something, anything, about him. She was confronted with an overwhelming scene. Children were crying. Adults were covered with blood. Nothing was comprehensible. She spotted a policewoman, who calmed her down, told her to go home and promised to update her hourly.

The kindness of that officer and other officers has inspired Al-Umari to consider a career change. Currently a credit analyst at a bank, she hopes to join the police force and work on financial crimes.

“I think, going through this, it really shifts your perspective in life. And by life, it’s everything from A to Z,” she says. “So from family time, going about your day, to career. All of these have shifted.”

These days, she is learning self-defense techniques through martial arts courses and says no matter how busy she finds herself, she always makes sure to spend time with her parents. And she never stops thinking about Hussein, who was her only sibling.

She carries a photo of the two of them and takes selfies of it when she visits different places around the world, like when she completed the hajj pilgrimage in August. She was one of 200 survivors and relatives from the Christchurch attacks who traveled to Saudi Arabia as guests of King Salman.

“Every day I feel like Hussein is with me,” she says. “Any decisions that I make, I just think about, OK, what would Hussein do in this situation?'' Every time that I visit him in the cemetery, he’s definitely there.”

Al-Umari, 34, has also been reflecting on the casual racism she experienced in New Zealand growing up. She first noticed it after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in the U.S. “I remember at school I would feel like I was the one being blamed for what’s happened,” she says. “The Muslims were being tainted by one brush.”

She was later teased by her friends, called names. Now she thinks that’s how it all starts — a little joke, a comment that doesn’t get challenged. “I feel I was also responsible in that I did not stand up for myself,” she says. “I would laugh it off, whereas the right thing to do would have been like, ‘It’s not funny. How would you feel if I said the same things to you?’”

Al-Umari is steeling herself for the June trial of the man accused of the shooting, 29-year-old Australian white supremacist Brenton Tarrant. He has been charged with terrorism, murder and attempted murder and faces life imprisonment if found guilty.

Al-Umari remembers the first time she saw him in court, where he appeared via video-link from his maximum-security jail cell. “It felt like my organs had just dropped to the floor,” she says. She’s been trying to heal her spirit and keep the memory of Hussein alive by writing about her experiences online, by overcoming prejudice with compassion.

“Words can be powerful. Words can be destructive,” she says. “But they can also be very restorative as well.”

Len Peneha

Len lived next door to the Al Noor mosque and helped some worshipers escape

On March 15 last year, Len Peneha had driven home to pick up his daughter Jasmine when he noticed a man maneuvering a car at the end of their long driveway and then carry something into the mosque.

“We started hearing these noises. Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang,” he says. He wondered if it was construction scaffolding falling over. But then people began running everywhere, and Peneha figured out what was happening. He and his daughter ran inside. Jasmine called the police and Peneha came back out and helped people climb over the mosque’s back fence and hide in his apartment as the shooter continued his massacre.

The images from that day will never leave Peneha, 54. He saw the gunman shoot a woman at point-blank range at the end of the driveway, and then drive over her body. After the gunman left, Peneha went to the mosque to help and saw bodies strewn in the foyer.

“I struggled sleeping for months after that. My brain was still on high alert,” he says. At night he would hear the slightest noise from down the street or the words from a conversation in another building. Every time he drove down his driveway he would see the image of the woman’s body lying across it. He had frequent panic attacks and sought counseling.

“The sadness that it brought affected me quite a lot. And it still does today,” he says. After months of anxiety, Peneha decided he needed to move away from the area, and he found a new apartment. Shifting has helped calm his mind, he says, although he still has days when he feels down and moments when he struggles.

Three of the people he helped escape that day have since come back to say thanks. They credit Peneha with saving their lives. “To be honest, in my mind, they saved themselves first, by actually getting out of there alive,” Peneha says. “I helped them climb over the fence, and I sheltered them and stopped them from doing anything stupid to get themselves killed. And maybe, in that respect, I did help save their lives.”

Peneha says the gunman seems to think he’s superior to other people, and that’s not the way the world should work. Peneha admires the sentiments from some the survivors of the Al Noor shooting, including Farid Ahmed, who has said he forgives the attacker.

“I can’t forgive him, like Farid has and the Muslim community has,” Peneha says. “I don’t find I have any compassion for him at all. What he did was abhorrent. Callous.”

Adib Khanafer

Adib, a vascular surgeon, helped save the life of a 4-year-old girl who was shot at the Al Noor mosque

Adib Khanafer didn’t know anything about the mosque attacks when he was urgently called to the operating theater at the Christchurch Hospital to work on 4-year-old Alen Alsati. “They said there’s a major bleed, so I scrubbed in,” he says. “It was very emotional at the beginning to see such horrific injuries. I did what I’m best at doing: repairing vessels.”

The girl spent weeks at an Auckland children’s hospital recovering. About seven months after the attacks, Khanafer was invited by the family to join them for an authentic Palestinian dinner. He says Alen was vibrant and was even teasing his own daughter.

“I don’t have any concern about Alen. I think she’s going to be a good, tough girl,” he says. “I told her that you need to be a surgeon, and she said, ‘No, I want to be a policewoman.’ And I said ‘OK, that’s disappointing, but we’ll work on it, we’ll work on it.’”

He says Alen has started school and he’s confident she’ll fully recover. Khanafer, 52, says he’s noticed a change in how people treat him and his wife, who are both Muslim. Before the attacks, he says, many people in Christchurch didn’t know much about Islam or the Muslim culture and were sometimes guarded around the couple. He says many people have since taken the time to read and inform themselves, and he’s noticed some big changes.

“People now understand there’s a different culture, there’s a different religion, there’s a different behavior,” he says. “So definitely, we’ve seen more acceptance. Particularly to people like my wife, who wears the Islamic hijab.”

He says bullet wounds can do serious damage to soft tissue and nerves, and some of the dozens who were injured in the attacks will take a long time to heal. Some may never be able to play sports with their kids or return to the way they were. But he says there are also stories of remarkable recoveries.

“The human body is a pretty good machine,” he says. “Only time will tell.”

NATO urges Syria, Russia to halt airstrikes as migrants move

February 29, 2020

BRUSSELS (AP) — NATO on Friday called on Syria and Russia to halt their airstrikes following the killing of 33 Turkish soldiers in northeastern Syria, as scores of migrants seeking entry into Europe gathered at Turkey's border with Greece

With Turkey signalling that it would let migrants leave, Greece and neighboring Bulgaria bolstered border security. The European Union warned that the fighting in northern Syria could degenerate into open war and that it stood ready to protect its security interests.

After chairing emergency talks between NATO ambassadors, Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg called on Syria and Russia "to stop their offensive, to respect international law and to back U.N efforts for a peaceful solution.”

“This dangerous situation must be de-escalated and we urge an immediate return to the 2018 cease-fire to avoid the worsening of the horrendous humanitarian situation in the region,” Stoltenberg said. Turkey's allies also expressed their condolences over the deaths, but no additional NATO support was offered during the meeting.

Apart from providing some aerial surveillance over Syria, NATO plays no direct role in the conflict-torn country, but its members are deeply divided over Turkey’s actions there, and European allies are worried about the arrival of any new waves of refugees.

The air strike by Syrian government forces marks the largest death toll for Turkey in a single day since it first intervened in Syria in 2016. It’s a major escalation in a conflict between Turkish and Russia-backed Syrian forces that has raged since early February.

Omer Celik, spokesman for President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's ruling party, said Turkey was “no longer able to hold refugees” following the Syrian attack — reiterating Erdogan’s longstanding warning that his country cannot cope with more people fleeing the conflict.

Turkey hosts some 3.6 million Syrians and under a 2016 deal with the EU agreed to step up efforts to halt the flow of refugees to Europe. Since then, Erdogan has repeatedly threatened to “open the gates,” playing on European nervousness about a new surge.

The Turkish DHA news agency reported that some 300 Syrians, Iranians, Iraqis, Moroccans and Pakistanis were gathering at the border with Greece, while others massed at beaches facing Greek islands off Turkey's western coast.

Early Friday, Turkish broadcaster NTV showed images of dozens of people — carrying rucksacks, suitcases and plastic bags — crossing fields towards the Greek frontier. Near the Pazarkule border crossing with Greece, Turkish police stopped some 150 refugees about 1 kilometer (half a mile) from the border, preventing them from going further.

A Greek police official said dozens of people had gathered on the Turkish side of the land border in Greece’s Evros region, shouting “open the borders.” Police and military border patrols on the Greek side readied to prevent people crossing without authorization.

The official spoke on condition of anonymity as they were not authorized to speak on the record to the press. In Bulgaria, Prime Minister Boyko Borissov said that “army units, national guard and border police staff have been urgently deployed at the border with Turkey to beat off a possible migrant influx.”

Borissov said that large groups of migrants were gathering by the border near the Turkish city of Edirne. He expressed concern that Turkish border police were moving away from the border. But EU spokesman Peter Stano said the bloc was waiting for an official analysis of reports about migrant movements before acting. He said Turkey had not officially signaled that it was changing its migrant policy.

“We expect Turkey to uphold its commitments," Stano said. Meanwhile, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell warned that “there is a risk of sliding into a major open international military confrontation. It is also causing unbearable humanitarian suffering and putting civilians in danger.”

In a tweet, Borrell called for the escalation around Idlib to “stop urgently,” and underlined that “the EU will consider all necessary measures to protect its security interests. We are in touch with all relevant actors.”

Turkey’s invasion of the north of the conflict-torn country — along with the criticism and threats of sanctions brandished by fellow allies at Ankara over the offensive — has come close to sparking a major crisis at NATO.

France in particular has tried to launch a debate on what Turkey’s allies should do if Ankara requests their assistance under Article 5 of the Washington Treaty — which requires all allies to come to the defense of another member under attack — but that discussion has not happened.

The allies are extremely reluctant to be drawn into a conflict of Turkey’s making.

Kantouris reported from Thessaloniki, Greece. Veselin Toshkov in Sofia, Bulgaria, contributed.

NATO in urgent talks after 33 Turkish troops killed in Syria

February 28, 2020

BRUSSELS (AP) — NATO envoys were holding emergency talks Friday at the request of Turkey following the killing of 33 Turkish soldiers in northeast Syria, as scores of migrants gathered at Turkey's border with Greece seeking entry into Europe.

NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said in a statement that Friday morning’s meeting of ambassadors would be held under Article 4 of NATO’s founding treaty, which allows any ally to request consultations if it feels its territorial integrity, political independence or security is threatened.

The air strike by Syrian government forces marks the largest death toll for Turkey in a single day since it first intervened in Syria in 2016. It’s a major escalation in a conflict between Turkish and Russia-backed Syrian forces that has raged since early February.

At least 54 Turkish troops have now been killed in Idlib in that time. Omer Celik, spokesman for President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's ruling party, said Turkey was “no longer able to hold refugees” following the Syrian attack — reiterating a longstanding warning from Erdogan that his country can no longer cope with the arrival of people fleeing the conflict.

Turkey hosts some 3.6 million Syrians and under a 2016 deal with the European Union agreed to step up efforts to halt the flow of refugees to Europe. Since then Erdogan has repeatedly threatened to “open the gates” in several disputes with European states.

DHA news agency reported that some 300 Syrians, Iranians, Iraqis, Moroccans and Pakistanis were gathering at the border with Greece, while others massed at beaches facing Greek islands off Turkey's western coast.

A Greek police official said dozens of people had gathered on the Turkish side of the land border in Greece’s northeastern Evros region shouting “open the borders.” Greek police and military border patrols were deployed on the Greek side to prevent anyone trying to cross without authorization.

The official spoke on condition of anonymity as they were not authorized to speak to the press on the record. Apart from providing some aerial surveillance over Syria, NATO plays no direct role in the conflict-torn country, but its members are deeply divided over Turkey’s actions there, and European allies are worried about any new wave of refugees arriving.

Turkey’s invasion of the north of the conflict-torn country — along with the criticism and threats of sanctions brandished by fellow allies at Ankara over the offensive — has come close to sparking a crisis at the military alliance.

France in particular has tried to launch debate on what Turkey’s allies should do if Ankara requests their assistance under Article 5 of the Washington Treaty — which requires all allies to come to the defense of another member under attack — but that discussion has not happened.

The allies are extremely reluctant to be drawn into a conflict of Turkey’s making, and particularly because Erdogan has used up a lot of good will by testing his fellow NATO members' patience for quite a while.

The Syria offensive comes on top of tensions over Turkey's purchase of Russian-made S400 missiles, which threaten NATO security and the F-35 stealth jet. Erdogan also purged thousands of Turkish military officers following the failed coup in Turkey in 2016 and some have sought, and been granted, asylum in Europe.

But despite high political-military tensions, Turkey is too important to eject from the 29-member alliance. Turkey is of great strategic importance to NATO. The large, mainly Muslim country straddles the Bosporus Strait, making it a vital bridge between Europe, the Middle East and Central Asia. It's also the only waterway in and out of the Black Sea, where Russia's naval fleet is based.

NATO allies also rely on the Incirlik air base in southeastern Turkey as a staging point for access to the Middle East. The alliance runs aerial surveillance operations from Incirlik and the United States has nuclear weapons stationed there.

Kantouris reported from Thessaloniki, Greece.

France says people must stay home to slow spread of virus

March 17, 2020

PARIS (AP) — France said Monday that it would follow other European countries in confining residents mostly to their homes during the COVID-19 pandemic, while the European Union considered closing its external borders to foreign travelers to impede infections.

French President Emmanuel Macron said that starting on Tuesday, people would be allowed to leave the place they live only for necessary activities such as shopping for food, going to work or taking a walk.

"From tomorrow at noon and for at least 15 days, our trips will be greatly reduced" Macron said in a televised address. Macron said the government would provide further details, but he told the French people that everyone should stay at home, go out just for the "bare essentials" and commute to work only if working from home isn't feasible.

Anyone caught violating the new measures will be punished, he said. The restrictions appeared to put France under a lockdown similar to the ones imposed last week in Italy and Spain in response to the virus. While the restrictions are in effect, residential gatherings with family and friends will be prohibited, the president said.

“We are at war,” Macron said repeatedly in his address. French Interior Minister Christophe Castaner subsequently specified that all people circulating on France's streets will have to justify, upon request, why they were out and about. Forms stating the purpose of “essential” outside travel — such as going to the bakery to buy a baguette — will be available for downloading, Castaner said.

People without valid reasons will be subject fines ranging from 38-135 euros ($43-$151), the minister said. Castaner said 100,000 police would be deployed in the coming days to enforce the lockdown. The French plan was announced almost a week after a nationwide lockdown took effect in Italy, the country with the most reported virus cases in the world except for China.

Spain followed suit over the weekend, while other EU nations have adopted ad hoc national measures, including partial border closures. As of earlier Monday, six of the 10 countries with the highest numbers of reported virus cases worldwide are in Europe: Italy, Spain, Germany, France, Switzerland and the U.K. France has reported a total of 6,633 cases, including 148 deaths.

British authorities also ramped up public health measures Monday, telling people who are in the groups considered most vulnerable to severe COVID-19 illness to stay at home for three months. Prime Minister Boris Johnson said people with “the most serious health conditions” should be “shielded” from social contacts for 12 weeks, starting this weekend. He mentioned people over 70, those with chronic illnesses and pregnant women as particularly at risk.

It was unclear whether everyone in the those groups was being told to stay home for 12 weeks. Johnson said the government was advising the entire population “to stop non-essential contact with others and to stop all unnecessary travel.”

"You should avoid pubs, clubs, theaters and other such social venues," he said at a news conference alongside his chief medical and scientific advisers. For most people, the virus causes only mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough. For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia.

While national governments across Europe have taken a range of measures to contain the virus from moving into and within their countries, the 27 members of the European Union are looking at closing the EU's external borders to most foreign travelers.

In recent days, the EU has been urging its members to put common health screening procedures in place at internal borders but not to block shipments of medical equipment. EU officials fear that countries acting alone and without coordination might make things more difficult for neighbors whose health-care systems are already creaking.

The proposed travel restrictions will be put to to the bloc's 27 leaders at a summit to be held via video-conference Tuesday. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said the plan calls for them to be in place for an initial period of 30 days.

Exemptions could be given to long-term residents in the EU, border area workers, family members of European nationals and diplomats. British citizens would not be included in the ban, even though the country officially withdrew from the EU on Jan. 31

“Essential staff such as doctors, nurses, care workers, researchers and experts that help address the coronavirus should continue to be allowed in the EU," von der Leyen said. Transport workers also could receive exemptions to ensure supplies of “essential items such as medicine, but also food and components that our factories need," she said.

Asked whether she thinks Europe will return to having its passport-free travel area once the pandemic subsides, German Chancellor Angela Merkel said she hoped so and noted that so far "coordination didn't work well everywhere the way one would have hoped.”

Merkel added that public health strategies in the EU should guarantee goods flow freely and ensure that Europeans can continue making cross-border commutes for work. “We will certainly need to continue talking (about this) in a European format," she said. "But from our perspective, these are time-limited measures that serve to reduce the risk of infection.”

Germany was preparing to shut non-essential shops, bars, museums and many other facilities and to limit restaurant opening times. Merkel’s office said Monday that overnight hotel stays will be allowed only for “necessary and expressly not for tourist purposes.”

Greek authorities announced that anyone entering the country from abroad would be subject to compulsory self-quarantine for 14 days. The health ministry’s top infectious diseases official, Sotiris Tsiodras, noted that many young people were returning “from countries where there is a large spread of the virus, such as the United Kingdom, whose public health strategy is to allow the virus to spread.”

Separately Monday, the Russian government announced that it has decided to bar entry to all foreigners starting Wednesday and until May 1. The move will not apply to diplomats, foreigners permanently staying in Russia, plane and ship crews and truck drivers.

Ukraine’s president also instructed his Cabinet to close the subway, shopping malls and restaurants, cut passenger train and air links, and to ban gatherings of more than 10 people.

Cook and Petrequin reported from Brussels. Sylvie Corbet in Paris contributed to this report.

The Associated Press receives support for health and science coverage from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

UK ramps up virus fight: no pubs, 12-week isolation for some

March 16, 2020

LONDON (AP) — British authorities on Monday dramatically ramped up measures to combat the new coronavirus, urging all U.K. residents to avoid unnecessary contact with others and telling people in the most vulnerable groups to stay at home for three months.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson said “now is the time for everyone to stop non-essential contact with others and to stop all unnecessary travel.” "You should avoid pubs, clubs, theaters and other such social venues," he said at a news conference alongside his chief medical and scientific advisers.

Johnson said people with “the most serious health conditions” should be “shielded” from social contacts for 12 weeks, starting this weekend. He mentioned people over 70, those with chronic illnesses and pregnant women as particularly at risk, though it was unclear whether everyone in those groups was being told to stay home for 12 weeks.

The U.K. had previously resisted taking some of the tough measures seen in other European countries, which have banned large events, shut schools and closed their borders to slow the spread of the COVID-19 illness.

But Johnson said Monday the number of U.K. cases was starting to rise rapidly and "without drastic action" they could double every five or six days. As of Monday, Britain had 1,543 confirmed cases and 53 virus-related deaths.

British authorities now say if anyone in a household has a fever or persistent cough, everyone there should stay at home for 14 days. Johnson also said the government would no longer give emergency-services support to large gatherings, though he did not ban them outright. And unlike schools in most other European countries, those in Britain remain open.

“We think that, on balance, best to keep schools open but appreciate that this is something we need to keep under review,” Johnson said. Britain lags behind countries such as Italy, Germany and France in the number of infections, and the government’s scientific advisers have said that implementing draconian measures too early will make them harder to sustain as the outbreak peaks in two or three months.

Until Monday, Britons had been told merely to wash their hands frequently and to stay at home for a week if they have a fever or continuous cough. All of London’s West End theaters said they would close in the wake of the government announcement. The Society of London Theatre, which represents scores of venues, said it was “not a decision that is taken lightly” and that going dark would affect 290,000 workers.

UKHospitality, which represents pubs, coffee shops, nightclubs and other leisure venues, said the government's announcement would be “catastrophic for businesses and jobs.” "The government has effectively shut the hospitality industry without any support, and this announcement will lead to thousands of businesses closing their doors for good, and hundreds of thousands of job losses,” chief executive Kate Nicholls said.

The U.K. strategy has been based on the presumption that most people will eventually get the virus. Britain’s goal is to slow the spread of the infection so the country’s overstretched National Health Service is not overwhelmed, while protecting those most at risk of serious illness — the elderly and people with serious health problems.

Britain’s approach had come under increasing pressure as neighboring countries went into lockdowns and closed their borders in response to the new virus. Some scientists urged more severe restrictions to enforce “social distancing” and slow the spread of the virus.

For most people, the new coronavirus causes only mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough, and most recover. The worldwide outbreak has sickened over 179,000 people and left more than 7,000 dead. Over 78,000 people have recovered, most of them in China.

The outbreak has already had a huge effect on everyday life in Britain. Ridership on trains and the London Underground is down by a fifth as some businesses ask staff to work from home, and universities are moving classes online.

Supermarkets have been stripped of staples including toilet paper, pasta and rice as shoppers ignore government appeals not to hoard supplies. Johnson said the measures announced Monday were unprecedented in peacetime.

“And we have to accept that it is a very considerable psychological, behavioral change that we're asking you, we're asking the public, the nation to do,” he said. “But I have absolutely no doubt that we can do it, that we can do it together.”

Asia urges vigilance to maintain hard-won infection drops

March 16, 2020

TOKYO (AP) — Millions of people began holing up at home, stocking up on supplies and keeping a wary eye on how close they get to friends and neighbors as fear of the coronavirus spread to more places around the world Monday.

Resorts closed on the Las Vegas strip. Many restaurants offered only takeout, if they were open at all. Schools, concerts, sporting events — even small-scale St. Patrick's Day parties — were canceled.

It's a reality Northeast Asia has been living with for months, but while the focus of the pandemic appears to be shifting away from its original epicenter, many in Asia continue to urge vigilance against anything that might hurt hard-won gains.

“If we loosen our grip on the quarantine, it could be a matter of time for the embers of small-scale cluster infections to be revived,” the South Korean mass-circulation Dong-a Ilbo newspaper said in an editorial Monday.

China, where the virus was first detected in December, now accounts for less than half of the world's 169,000 cases, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University. China has also been surpassed in deaths.

A shutdown of public gatherings and a quarantine of the hardest-hit central region has steadied China's caseload as the virus spreads rapidly elsewhere. Most of the world's 77,000 recovered patients are in China.

Traffic has begun returning to Beijing. Office buildings, however, enforced strict screenings for fever, and many restaurants only offered take-out. Children usually snowed under with classes and homework found themselves glued to screens, shopping, chatting and watching video clips.

As the world inched toward a shutdown of much of public life — bars, restaurants, school, work — Asian cities have become increasingly worried about importing cases of the virus from abroad after making inroads containing its spread at home.

Starting Monday, travelers arriving in Beijing from overseas will be quarantined for 14 days in designated facilities at their own expense. Previously, people without symptoms could self-quarantine at home.

In the latest tally, China's National Health Commission reported 16 new cases of the coronavirus in the previous 24 hours. Twelve of them were imported from overseas, including four in Beijing. China now has 80,860 confirmed cases. The health commission said that 67,749 patients have recovered and been discharged from hospitals. Fourteen more deaths were reported in the last 24 hours, raising the toll to 3,213.

Though China still has the most infections, a dozen other countries have more than 1,000 cases, mostly in Europe. Religious leaders gave sermons to empty pews or to the faithful watching online Sunday after public worship was curtailed in many places. The Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem's Old City was being closed indefinitely, and the Vatican closed off next month's Holy Week services to the public. Still, 83-year-old Pope Francis ventured out of the Vatican to visit two churches in Rome to pray for the sick.

In the United States, health officials recommended a limit to groups of 50 or more people and a government expert said a 14-day national shutdown may be needed. Americans returning from abroad encountered chaotic airport health screenings and closed-down communities.

There are signs that the coronavirus outbreak in South Korea is slowing down, but officials are still scrambling to prevent infections from exploding again. South Korea on Monday reported 74 more cases over the past 24 hours, a day after it announced 76 new cases. The figures are the lowest daily increase in new infections in about 25 days. That's a stark contrast with the more than 900 new cases reported on one day in late February.

There are still worries that new infections might surge again from those returning from Europe or from locals who are reportedly resuming attending mass gatherings like church services. There have been calls for authorities to further postpone the new school year, which was to begin on March 23 after two rounds of delays.

South Korean Prime Minister Chung Se-kyun said the country’s decline in virus cases was a “hopeful sign” but urged caution over widening outbreaks across Europe and the United States. Chung said South Korea should “never loosen its guard.”

On the first day of Spain's quarantine, long lines formed for food as police patrolled. Soldiers and police sealed off the Philippines' densely populated capital, Manila, from most domestic travelers. Austria planned to limit people's movement, and Lebanon was put on lockdown, closing down Beirut's famed seaside corniche.

As the public curtailed their daily lives, governments also adjusted. The prime ministers of Australia and Singapore announced on Monday that they will meet by video conference after Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong canceled an Australian visit this week.

"Business and governments can carry on even through the midst of all this," Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison told Seven Network television. Several Australian states Monday declared public health emergencies that create punishments for failing to comply with self-isolation orders. Australia’s most populous state, New South Wales, has suspended new jury trials because of the virus.

In Tokyo, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s government secured a law allowing him to declare a state of emergency in case things worsen, though he says it still hasn't reached that point. For most people, the coronavirus causes only mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough, and those with mild illness recover in about two weeks. But severe illness including pneumonia can occur, especially in the elderly and people with existing health problems, and recovery could take six weeks in such cases.

Efforts to stop the virus from spreading to the most vulnerable and to not overwhelm health care systems with sick patients are pushing calls for people to avoid public crowds or just stay home. “I think Americans should be prepared that they are going to have to hunker down significantly more than we as a country are doing,’’ Dr. Anthony Fauci of the National Institutes of Health told NBC’s ”Meet the Press.’’

Ireland ordered all pubs and bars to close for two weeks — including on Tuesday, St. Patrick's Day — and urged people not to hold house parties. Two pub industry groups had warned of the “real difficulty” in keeping people apart in the country's famous watering holes.

Italy on Sunday reported its biggest day-to-day increase in infections — 3,590 more cases in a 24-hour period — for a total of almost 24,747. And 368 more deaths brought its toll to 1,809, more than a quarter of the global death toll.

“It’s not a wave. It’s a tsunami,” said Dr. Roberto Rona, who's in charge of intensive care at Italy's Monza hospital. Governors in California, Illinois and Ohio told all bars and restaurants to close or reduce their number of customers. New York City will shutter the nation's largest public school system as early as Tuesday, sending over 1.1 million children home.

With fears increasing that the pandemic will depress U.S. economic growth, the Federal Reserve took emergency action by slashing its benchmark interest rate to near zero and deciding to buy $700 billion in Treasury and mortgage bonds.

Spain was under lockdown amid a two-week state of emergency. Spain's Health Ministry said the country has recorded 288 deaths, up from 136 on Saturday. The number of infections rose to 7,753 from 5,700.

“From now, we enter into a new phase,” said Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, whose wife tested positive. “We won’t hesitate in doing what we need must to beat the virus. We are putting health first.”

Associated Press writers Ken Moritsugu in Beijing, Kim Tong-hyung and Hyung-jin Kim in Seoul, South Korea, Rod McGuirk in Canberra, Australia, and Mari Yamaguchi in Tokyo contributed to this report.

The Associated Press receives support for health and science coverage from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

European arrivals jam some US airports amid virus screenings

March 15, 2020

CHICAGO (AP) — Harsh criticism rained on the Trump administration Sunday from state and local officials over long lines of returning international passengers at some U.S. airports that could have turned them into coronavirus carriers as they tried to get home.

Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker and Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot, both Democrats, lambasted the administration for allowing about 3,000 Americans returning from Europe to be stuck for hours inside the customs area at O'Hare International Airport on Saturday, violating federal recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention that people practice “social distancing."

The passengers, many of them rushing home because of fears they would be stuck in Europe, were screened by federal customs and homeland security agents for coronavirus symptoms before they were allowed to leave the airport.

Long lines also formed Saturday in Boston, Dallas and others of the 13 airports that are accepting return flights from Europe. “People were forced into conditions that are against CDC guidance and are totally unacceptable,” Lightfoot said.

Conditions were better Sunday, but lines could again grow as the day progresses and more flights arrive. Not every U.S. airport accepting European arrivals experienced overcrowding. Airports serving Miami, Seattle, Los Angeles and Newark, New Jersey, reported short lines at customs Saturday and Sunday.

For most people, the new coronavirus causes only mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough. For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia. The vast majority of people recover.

Lightfoot singled out Vice President Mike Pence and his coronavirus task force for not talking with local officials before implementing the screening program. State and local officials could have offered “concrete suggestions" for how the program could have been implemented with the least disruption, she said, but the administration acted unilaterally.

“Thousands of travelers were forced to wait in exceedingly long lines, congregating in concourses and putting themselves and their loved ones at greater risk of exposure," Lightfoot said. Passengers Sunday will likely be kept on their planes to manage the flow into the customs area, she said.

But Pritzker predicted Sunday would “be even worse” on NBC's “Meet the Press.” He said that the administration should have bolstered staffing at the receiving airports in anticipation of long lines. But instead, he said, passengers “were stuck in a small area, hundreds and hundreds of people, and that’s exactly what you don’t want in this pandemic.”

Texas Gov. Greg Abbot, a Republican and strong supporter of the president, tweeted Sunday that the lines in Dallas were “unacceptable & I'm working hard to get it fixed.” He said he had contacted the head of Homeland Security, acting Secretary Chad Wolf.

President Donald Trump defended the administration's actions in a tweet Sunday. “We are doing very precise Medical Screenings at our airports. Pardon the interruptions and delays, we are moving as quickly as possible, but it is very important that we be vigilant and careful. We must get it right. Safety first!” he wrote.

Acting Customs and Border Patrol Commissioner Mark Morgan said in a written statement Sunday that the agency is making improvements to its procedures, but that it must “balance our efficiencies with ensuring the health and safety of all American citizens through enhanced medical screening.”

Katy Rogers spent four hours Saturday at O'Hare in a tightly packed space with students, a basketball team, musicians and older people in wheelchairs. "Everybody was nervous about it," she said Sunday. "Everyone working there was confused and frustrated, and there were hands were tied, too."

Even though she showed no signs of being sick, she now plans to quarantine herself on the organic produce farm she runs in Noblesville, Indiana. Elizabeth Pulvermacher, a University of Wisconsin student, arrived Saturday at O'Hare from Madrid, where she had been studying. The customs process made her feel “unsafe," she said.

“The whole idea is getting rid of the spread of coronavirus, but there were hundreds and hundreds of people in very close proximity,” Pulvermacher said. Dr. Robert Murphy, executive director of Institute for Global Health at Northwestern University, said he was “appalled” by what he saw Saturday at nearby O'Hare.

“If they weren’t exposed to COVID-19 before, they probably are now. From a public health perspective, this is malpractice,” Murphy said in a statement. "The lack of preparation and concern is unfathomable. This is not ‘poor planning.’ This is ‘no planning.’”

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the government's top infectious disease expert, said on “Fox News Sunday” that the airport crowds could spread the disease, but that they are likely to continue. Americans must understand that there is no need to rush back from Europe, he said, but “when people see a travel ban, they immediately want to hunker and get home.”

“Hopefully we don’t have more of that, but I think we probably unfortunately will,” he said. Travelers from restricted countries in Europe, China and Iran are being advised to self-quarantine for 14 days after reaching their final destination in the U.S.

The worldwide outbreak has sickened more than 156,000 people and left more than 5,800 dead, with thousands of new cases confirmed each day. The death toll in the United States climbed to 61, while infections neared 3,000.

Spencer reported from Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Associated Press journalists Mallika Sen, Vanessa Alvarez, Christopher Weber, Eugene Johnson and John Seewer contributed.

Virus-era voting: France holds local elections despite fears

March 15, 2020

PARIS (AP) — French voters queued up Sunday in polling stations across the nation to choose all their mayors and other local leaders. But others decided not to go amid concerns over how public gatherings spread the new coronavirus.

Voting stations opened just as a drastic new order came into effect shutting down all of France's restaurants, museums and most stores to stem the spreading coronavirus that has hit the world economy hard.

France has around 4,500 cases of the virus, including 91 people who have died. Worldwide, over 156,000 people have been infected, 5,800 have died and nearly 74,000 have recovered. The disease for most people causes only mild or moderate symptoms but for some, including the elderly and the sick, it can cause more severe illness.

French President Emmanuel Macron decided against delaying the election amid concerns that would be undemocratic. But the virus hurting Sunday's turnout, which was 38% by 5 p.m., compared to 54% at the same time in 2014.

“I believe it is important that that democratic moment take place,” Macron said after voting in his hometown of Le Touquet in northern France. He said people should go vote “with precautions" but that it was “idiotic” to keep going to restaurants and cafes.

Macron said he keeps hydro-alcoholic gel in his pocket and that he hasn’t been tested for the virus because he has no symptoms. Those who showed up to the poll stations described a feeling of duty, despite the challenges.

“It's not ideal, but it's important we go vote. Life in this city and in society shouldn't stop," said Laure Marie Diers, a manager in Paris. The government ordered unprecedented sanitary measures at polling stations.

Organizers were told to impose a one-meter (about three-foot) gap between people in lines, and to provide soap or hydro-alcoholic gel and disinfectant wipes for voting machines. Voters were told to bring their own pens to sign the register.

Associated Press reporters observed uneven application of the rules in different polling stations. Some had marked off the floor with tape to indicate one-meter spacing; others had no indication and voters bunched up irregularly. Some voters washed their hands before and after casting a ballot, others didn't bother. Staffers reassured voters that they were disinfecting voting booths every hour.

Sunday's elections are the first round of a two-round vote for leadership of all 35,000 French communes, some of only a few dozen inhabitants. Voters will choose among lists of candidates running for mayor and town council seats.

If no list gets the absolute majority in the first round, all lists that receive more than 10% of votes will qualify for the second round, currently scheduled for March 22. While most voters cast ballots based on local issues, the elections are an important gauge of public sentiment before the 2022 presidential election.

Sunday's voting is a tough challenge for Macron’s 3-year-old centrist party, which is competing for the first time in municipal elections and still lacks local roots across France. His government is also unpopular after months of protests from the yellow vest movement economic movement against perceived social injustice, and several weeks of strikes against the government's planned pension overhaul.

The conservative Republicans party, the Greens party, the far-right National Rally and the struggling Socialists are also vying for key mayoral seats and to strengthen their nationwide political bases.

The main battleground is Paris, whose whose mayor is an influential figure in French politics and will oversee the 2024 Summer Olympics. “If the government says we can vote, I'd hope we can trust them," said Frederic Bouchardie, a 46-year-old company owner in Paris. “Voting is an important civic duty, we need to elect our mayor.”

David Keyton and Angela Charlton in Paris, Robert Edme in Saint-Pee-sur-Nivelle, and Jean-Francois Badias in Strasbourg, contributed to this report.

Paris without its cafes? Virus shutdown hits France's core

March 15, 2020

PARIS (AP) — What's it like in France after government orders restaurants and bistros to close to contain the spreading coronavirus? Eerily quiet. No one drinking coffee in sidewalk cafes. A punch in the gut to France's well-known joie de vivre.

Paris is “like a horse without a rider,” said Mohamed Fatnassi, the man in charge of evening service at the famed Closerie des Lilas bar and restaurant. He spoke early Sunday, just after the ban came into effect. By then, the Left Bank restaurant and bar had emptied, for who knows how long. The abrupt closure order from the prime minister came in the midst of France's dinner hour Saturday night: all eateries should shut at midnight, indefinitely.

"This is an institution ... Everyone has been through here,” Fatnassi said, citing Ernest Hemingway, Pablo Picasso and even Soviet founder Vladimir Lenin, who lived in exile in a nearby district. Cafes and eateries have been an essential part of the fabric of social life in France since the first cafe appeared in 17th-century Paris. Today, in villages, the local cafe is often the only place to come together with neighbors. They're so essential to social cohesion that the French government has launched a plan to ensure they survive.

By Sunday morning, the sidewalk cafes once synonymous with France stood barren. Stacks of chairs looked forlorn, absent of tourists and gossiping locals. At the historic Dome fish restaurant and cafe, a sober sign was taped to the brass-trimmed door: “Exceptional closing due to COVID-19."

Some restaurants had takeout signs on their doors as carrying away food is still allowed. But the usually bustling Montparnasse tourist haunt was eerily quiet. “It’s very strange. I wasn’t expecting this,” said Portuguese tourist Artur Rodriguez, 57, who was staying in a neighborhood hotel and noted that French museums were also closed. “We don’t know what to do....”

Like others in Paris’ Montparnasse district, Fatnassi said there was no advance warning ahead of French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe’s restaurant closure announcement. Authorities said the COVID-19 virus had doubled in France in three days, reaching 4,500 infections and 91 deaths, and stricter measures were needed.

As Europe became the new epicenter of the virus that began in China three months ago, neighboring nations like Italy and Spain have ordered much stricter lockdowns to protect people. Philippe said Sunday that barrier measures like avoiding crowds or maintaining a one-meter distance were not being fully respected, notably in packed cafes.

“Paris is conviviality,” said Benz Mezian, owner of two Montparnasse bars popular with youth. Employees were stacking chairs at midnight as customers, seated shoulder to shoulder, downed their last drinks.

"We’re all a little anxious,” he said of his 10 employees, “but health comes before business.”

The Associated Press receives support for health and science coverage from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

Up in smoke: Coronavirus closures hit Dutch coffeeshops

March 15, 2020

AMSTERDAM (AP) — Trade at Amsterdam’s famed weed-selling coffeeshops suddenly went up in smoke Sunday night after the government ordered them closed along with all other restaurants and bars in the latest move to rein in the spread of the coronavirus.

Queues quickly formed outside coffeeshops in the Dutch capital and elsewhere as customers -- some facing three weeks of no school or work -- decided to buy some pot while they still could. The closures are set to last until at least April 6.

One woman, a health care worker who declined to give her name because of her job, said she rushed out after watching a livestream of a government press conference announcing the new restrictions. Health Care Minister Bruno Bruins made a point of mentioning that coffeeshops would be included in the closures.

“I don’t smoke much, but I thought if I have to sit inside for three weeks,” she told an Associated Press photographer as she waited patiently in line outside the Bullwackie coffeeshop in southern Amsterdam, where the menu includes a gram of Dutch “Amnesia” weed for 10 euros ($11).

UK eyes plan to have over-70s isolate from virus for months

March 15, 2020

LONDON (AP) — The United Kingdom plans to escalate its virus-fighting measures, its top health official said Sunday, indicating that Britain is edging closer to tactics adopted by its European neighbors that so far the government has resisted.

Health Secretary Matt Hancock said Britain Conservative government is preparing the next phase of its action plan, which includes requiring the elderly to self-isolate, possibly for months. It's also planning to announce emergency legislation this week that will give the government extra powers, such as quarantining people who are sick but refuse to isolate themselves.

Britain has been taking a different approach from other countries across Europe and around the world by declining to heavily restrict everyday activities or introduce “social distancing” measures. The U.K. strategy is based on the presumption that most people will eventually get the COVID-19 virus and severe measures to contain it are unlikely to work.

But as infections rise in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, so has criticism of the government’s approach from British Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s political opponents, scientists, and an increasingly worried population. Britain's virus death toll rose to 35 on Sunday from 21 a day earlier while confirmed infections rose by 232 to 1,372.

For most people, the new coronavirus causes only mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough, and the majority recover. For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia. Worldwide, some 156,000 people have been infected, over 5,800 have died and nearly 74,000 have recovered.

Hancock said the government will set out the emergency powers on Tuesday with a bill published two days later. “We will do the right thing at the right time,” Hancock told the BBC. “We will publish the bill this week coming, we will change the law so that we take the power to be able to close mass gatherings if we need to.”

Hancock said authorities would be able to act if people are sick but refuse to self-isolate. “We are going to take the powers to make sure we can quarantine people if they are a risk to public health, " he told the BBC, adding that he doubted there would be much need because people were being responsible.

Hancock told Sky the government would in the “coming weeks” require people over 70 to self-isolate for up to four months. "We also need to take steps to protect the vulnerable, and we set out in the plan how we would be prepared to do that and to advise the elderly and the vulnerable who are most at risk from this virus to protect themselves, to shield themselves, by self isolating,” Hancock told Sky News.

British supermarkets, meanwhile, pleaded with customers not to panic buy, after photos circulated on social media of empty store shelves. "We would ask everyone to be be considerate in the way they shop," a dozen supermarket companies said in an joint letter released by the British Retail Consortium. "We understand your concerns but buying more than is needed sometimes means that others will be left without. There is enough for everyone if we all work together."

Virus restrictions tighten, disrupting daily life, worship

March 15, 2020

BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — New travel restrictions and border closures reverberated Sunday across Europe and beyond as daily life increasingly ground to a halt to try to keep people apart and slow the spread of the coronavirus. Americans returning home faced chaos at airports as overwhelmed border agents tried to screen passengers.

Public worship was curtailed as Muslim authorities announced that the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem's Old City would be closed indefinitely, and the Vatican said next month's Holy Week services would not be open to the public.

The number of new coronavirus cases surged in hard-hit Italy to nearly 25,000 and it recorded 368 more deaths to bring its overall toll to 1,809. With the country under a nearly week-old lockdown, Pope Francis ventured out of the Vatican to visit two churches in Rome to pray for the sick, a spokesman said.

In Spain, long lines for food and police patrols marked the first day of a nationwide quarantine. In the Philippines, soldiers and police sealed off the densely populated capital of Manila from most domestic travelers. Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz announced plans to limit movement nationwide, following Italy and Spain in barring people from leaving their homes except for essential errands or work.

Ireland ordered all pubs and bars to close for two weeks — including on Tuesday, St. Patrick's Day — and urged people not even to hold house parties. Two pub industry groups had warned of the “real difficulty” in keeping people apart in the country's famous watering holes.

With new infections dwindling in Asia, Europe has become the main front line of the fight against COVID-19. The virus has infected 156,000 people and killed over 5,800, but nearly 74,000 people have already recovered.

China, Italy, Iran, South Korea and Spain have the most infections. For most people, the coronavirus causes only mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough. For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia.

People should go out “only alone or with the people who live in their apartment," said Austria's Kurz, whose country has 800 infections. That was echoed by one of America's top infectious disease experts.

“I think Americans should be prepared that they are going to have to hunker down significantly more than we as a country are doing,’’ Dr. Anthony Fauci of the National Institutes of Health told NBC’s ”Meet the Press.’’

Travelers returning to the U.S. after the Trump administration imposed a wide-ranging ban on people entering from Europe faced hourslong waits for required medical screenings. Videos and photos on social media showed packed arrival halls and winding lines.

“This is unacceptable, counterproductive and exactly the opposite of what we need to do to prevent #COVID19," Illinois Sen. Tammy Duckworth tweeted. The U.S. has seen 61 deaths and more than 2,900 infections.

Italy, the worst-hit European country, reported its biggest day-to-day increase in infections — 3,590 more cases in a 24-hour period — for a total of almost 24,747. “It’s not a wave. It’s a tsunami,” said Dr. Roberto Rona, who's in charge of intensive care at the Monza hospital.

Italy's transport ministry banned passengers from taking ferries to the island of Sardinia and halted overnight train trips, which many in the north had used to reach homes and families in the south.

Even as authorities pleaded for people to stay home, Pope Francis visited St. Mary Major Basilica, near Rome’s central train station, to pray for the sick, Vatican spokesman Matteo Bruni said. The pontiff then walked to another church with a crucifix that in 1522 was carried in a procession during a plague afflicting Rome. In his prayer, Francis has ‘’invoked the end of the pandemia that has stricken Italy and the world, implored healing for the many sick, recalled the many victims of these days” and asked for consolation for their family and friends.

The Vatican said it would close all Holy Week ceremonies to the public with the start of Palm Sunday on April 5. It said that until April 12, when Easter Sunday is celebrated this year, all the general audiences on Wednesday and Francis' Sunday noon prayer will be streamed.

Holy Week services usually draw tens of thousands to Rome but, with Italy at the epicenter of the COVID-19 outbreak, tourism has vanished. Spain joined Italy on lockdown after the government declared a two-week state of emergency.

“From now, we enter into a new phase,” said Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, whose wife has tested positive. “We won’t hesitate in doing what we need must to beat the virus. We are putting health first.”

In Barcelona, people who ventured out formed long lines to buy bread. Police patrolled parks and told people who were not walking their dogs to go home. The Las Ramblas promenade, the heart of the city and a tourist magnet, was eerily empty.

The state of emergency “is necessary to unify our efforts so we can all go in the same direction,” Mayor Ada Colau said. For now, the number of cases is still rising steeply. Spain's Health Ministry said the country has recorded 288 deaths, up from 136 on Saturday. The number of infections rose to 7,753 from 5,700.

The Netherlands ordered all schools, day-care centers, restaurants and bars to close until April 6. The new restrictions cover the country’s famed marijuana-selling “coffee shops” and sex clubs. Elsewhere, Morocco suspended all international flights, and Turkey set aside quarantine beds for more than 10,000 people returning from Islam's holy sites in Saudi Arabia.

In China, where the virus was first detected in December, those arriving on overseas flights were routed to an exhibition center for initial checks before being shuttled to their homes or other quarantine locations.

Even as social life largely halted — the German capital of Berlin closed bars, cinemas and other facilities Saturday evening — some attempts at keeping up public life persisted. France, which has 4,500 infections and 91 deaths, went ahead Sunday with nationwide elections to choose mayors and other local leaders despite a crackdown on gatherings. The government ordered unprecedented sanitary measures, with election organizers having to keep a 1-meter (3-foot) gap between people and provide soap or sanitizing gel and disinfectant wipes for voting machines.

In Germany, which had reported nearly 3,800 cases and eight deaths, the state of Bavaria also held municipal elections, with poll workers wearing protective gloves. Germany is preparing to close its borders with France, Switzerland, Austria, Luxembourg and Denmark on Monday, and Interior Minister Horst Seehofer said people will no longer be allowed to enter or leave Germany without a valid reason.

Britain, which has not yet restricted everyday activities, said it plans to set out emergency powers this week, including potentially requiring people over 70 to self-isolate for up to four months and banning mass gatherings.

“We will do the right thing at the right time,” Health Secretary Matt Hancock told the BBC. “We will publish the bill this week coming." With the virus having reached 25 of Africa's 54 countries, sweeping restrictions were announced. Kenya is banning travelers from countries with infections and closing all schools for three weeks.

Senegal and Mauritania also are closing schools. Senegal also banned all public gatherings for a month, stopping cruise ships from docking and suspending Muslim and Christian pilgrimages. Muslim authorities announced that Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa Mosque, Islam's third-holiest site, would be closed indefinitely, with prayers being held on the sprawling esplanade outside.

Dalia Samhouri, a regional official with the World Health Organization, said both Iran and Egypt, two of the most populous countries in the Mideast, were likely underreporting cases because infected people can still show no visible symptoms. Iran says it has nearly 14,000 virus cases and 724 deaths, while Egypt has reported 110 cases, including two fatalities.

Moulson reported from Berlin. Associated Press writers Frances D'Emilio in Rome, Iain Sullivan in Madrid, Sylvie Corbet in Paris, Yanan Wang in Beijing, Andrew Taylor in Washington, and Jim Gomez in Manila contributed to this report.

Georgia 2nd state to postpone pres. primaries over virus

March 15, 2020

ATLANTA (AP) — Georgia's March 24 presidential primaries have been postponed until May because of fears over the new coronavirus, state election officials announced Saturday, a day after Louisiana also pushed back its primaries.

In-person early voting, which began statewide March 2, will be halted and the election will be moved to May 19, when Georgia’s other 2020 primary elections are being held, Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger said in a statement.

In addition to public safety, one big consideration was the risk the virus posed to poll workers, who are often older, election officials said. “Events are moving rapidly and my highest priority is protecting the health of our poll workers, and the community at large,” Raffensperger said.

The action followed Republican Gov. Brian Kemp’s signature of an emergency declaration that unlocked sweeping powers to fight COVID-19. In a speech Saturday, the governor renewed a call for places of worship, schools and others to consider canceling large gatherings as cases in the state rise.

On Friday, Louisiana became the first state to postpone its presidential primaries due to the virus. As of Saturday, the virus had infected more than 150,000 people worldwide and killed over 5,800. The U.S. counted more than 2,100 infections and 60 dead, as President Donald Trump expanded a ban on travel from Europe by adding Britain and Ireland to the list.

Georgia is reporting 66 confirmed cases, with most concentrated around metro Atlanta. One death in the state has been attributed to the virus. Cobb County Elections Director Janine Eveler said in an interview Saturday evening that her heavily populated metro Atlanta county had seen “a little over 100” poll workers quit in recent days because of fears over the virus. “Each day we had more and more poll workers wanting to bow out due to concern over their health,” Eveler said, adding that she believed the decision to postpone the election was the right one.

Trump is the only candidate on Georgia's Republican presidential primary ballot. The Democratic race has been narrowed to a two-man matchup between former Vice President Joe Biden and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, with Biden leading in the delegate count nationally. In states that have already held their primaries, Biden has been beating Sanders among key demographics at play in Georgia Democratic politics, including African Americans and suburban voters, and has been endorsed by a slew of state and local officials.

Raffensperger's office said that the decision to postpone the election was made in consultation with the state Democratic and Republican Parties. “Our priority is to protect the health and safety of all Georgians and to ensure that as many people as possible have an opportunity to vote,” state Sen. Nikema Williams, chair of the Democratic Party of Georgia said, according to the statement. “Continued in-person voting could compromise both goals.”

All votes already cast, including in-person and absentee ballots, will be counted, the statement says. As of Thursday, 224,000 voters had already cast ballots in the primary, according to Associated Press Elections Research.

The delayed election is the latest in a long list of disruptions to ordinary life the virus has caused. School districts covering the majority of Georgia's 1.8 million public school students have announced closures. Among many events postponed or canceled are the NCAA Final Four basketball tournament in Atlanta, Savannah's St. Patrick's Day parade and the Masters golf tournament in Augusta.

The Associated Press receives support for health and science coverage from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

Spain locks down its citizens, while France shuts nightlife

March 15, 2020

BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — Spain locked down its 46 million citizens and France ordered the closing of just about everything the rest of the world loves about it — the Eiffel Tower, the Louvre, the cafes and restaurants — as governments took increasingly desperate measures to put more space between people and contain the coronavirus.

More borders snapped shut around the globe on Saturday and Sunday: President Donald Trump announced that the U.S., which days ago barred travelers from most of Europe, will extend the ban to Britain and Ireland. In the Philippines, thousands of police and soldiers started sealing the densely populated capital from most domestic travelers in one of Southeast Asia’s most drastic containment moves.

Meanwhile, China, where the virus first appeared late last year, continued to relax its drastic restrictions, illustrating the way the center of gravity in the crisis has shifted westward toward Europe. The virus has infected more than 150,000 people worldwide and killed over 5,600.

In a nationally televised address Saturday, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez detailed the battery of exceptional measures put in place as part of a two-week state of emergency to fight the sharp rise in infections.

Later Saturday, Spain’s government said Sánchez's wife has tested positive for coronavirus. Begoña Gómez and the prime minister are in good health, the goverrnment said. Two ministers of Sánchez’s Cabinet, the minister of equality and the minister of regional affairs, had already tested positive earlier this week. The others member of the Cabinet have tested negative.

In a lockdown similar to the one already imposed in Italy, people will be allowed to leave their homes only to buy food and medicine, commute to work, go to hospitals and banks, or take trips related to the care of the young and the elderly. All schools and universities were closed, along with restaurants, bars, hotels and other non-essential retail businesses.

“From now we enter into a new phase,” Sánchez said after a Cabinet meeting that lasted over seven hours. “We won’t hesitate in doing what we must to beat the virus. We are putting health first.” Spanish authorities said the number of infections climbed past 5,700, half of them in the capital, Madrid. That represents a national increase of over 1,500 in 24 hours. The country had 136 deaths, up from 120. Spain has the fifth-highest number of cases, behind China, Italy, Iran and South Korea.

For most people, the coronavirus causes only mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough. For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia. The vast majority of people recover in a matter of weeks.

Despite please for calm from authorities, shoppers packed supermarkets in Spain in the morning. But overall, the normally bustling streets of the country's two biggest cities were noticeably quieter as the message sank in that social distancing is the only way to stop the pandemic.

“We had to close and remain shut for 15 days,” restaurant owner Rachel Paparardo said in Barcelona, which was already under regional restrictions. “But this is nothing. It is just so more people don’t get infected and we can recover from this."

Some flights bound for Spain turned around as word spread of the lockdown. In the Philippines, new restrictions for metropolitan Manila — home to more than 12 million people — that went into effect Sunday mean the suspension of domestic travel by land, air and sea to and from the capital region.

Large gatherings like concerts, movies and cockfighting are prohibited and most government work in executive department offices will be suspended in the metropolis for a month. School closures at all levels were extended and curfew was in the works.

“If you’ll go to work, go. If you need to go out for medical treatment, go. If you’ll buy food, go, but other than that, stay home,” Philippine Interior Secretary Eduardo Ano told a news conference. Countries around the world have been moving to prevent their health systems from collapsing under the load of all the virus cases.

Paris followed other cities in shuttering major tourist attractions, and France announced the closing of all restaurants, cafes, theaters and nonessential shops starting Sunday. France has recorded at least 3,600 infections. It has banned all gatherings of more than 100 people, ordered all schools closed and asked companies to allow workers to stay home.

France pressed ahead with plans for nationwide municipal elections on Sunday but ordered special measures to keep people at a safe distance and to sanitize surfaces. In Italy, the worst-hit European country, the number of deaths climbed past 1,400 and infections surged roughly 20 percent overnight to more than 21,000 because of what authorities characterized as irresponsible behavior by people still socializing despite the nationwide lockdown. Many Italian cities, including Rome and Milan, decided to close playgrounds and parks, too.

Premier Giuseppe Conte has said production — particularly of food and health supplies — must not stop. On Saturday, union and industrial leaders reached an agreement to keep factories running. At noon, people around Italy came out on their balconies, terraces or gardens or leaned out their windows to clap for several minutes in a gesture of thanks to medical workers.

In Britain, the death toll nearly doubled from the day before to 21, and the number of people infected rose to over 1,100. Ireland had 90 confirmed cases and one death as of Friday. Greece's infection total approached 230 with three deaths, and police there arrested 45 shopkeepers Saturday for violating a ban on operations.

The U.S. has seen 59 deaths — including the first in New York, Louisiana and Virginia — and more than 2,100 cases. In hard-hit Washington state, where 40 have died and and more than 550 have been infected, officials said the disease is straining the supply of protective gear available to medical providers despite shipments from the federal government.

Trump has tested negative for the new coronavirus, the president’s personal physician said Saturday. European countries took steps to isolate themselves from their neighbors. Denmark closed its borders and halted passenger traffic to and from the country. Travelers will be turned away at the border if they are unable to show that they have "a legitimate reason" to enter — for example, if they are Danish citizens or residents.

Poland planned to close is borders at midnight and deny all foreigners entry unless they lived in Poland or had personal ties there. The Czech Republic and Slovakia took similar action. Lithuania said it was introducing border checks at the frontiers with Poland and Latvia.

Russia said its borders with Norway and Poland will be closed to most foreigners beginning Sunday. In the Middle East, Iran's death toll reached 611, with nearly 13,000 infections, including senior government officials.

In the Pacific, New Zealand announced that incoming passengers, including citizens, will be required to isolate themselves for 14 days, with few exceptions. The measures increasingly mirror those taken by China, which in January quarantined more than 60 million people, starting with the epicenter, Wuhan, in the province of Hubei.

The spread of COVID-19 in China has slowed dramatically, according to the National Health Commission. After reporting thousands of new cases per day only a month ago, the commission said Saturday that there were 13 new deaths and just 11 new cases, including people who recently arrived in China from other affected countries like Italy.

Wuhan is now the only city in Hubei still designated “high-risk.” Several Hubei municipalities are gradually resuming public transportation and reopening businesses. Parks, museums and art galleries have reopened in Shanghai.

Moulson reported from Berlin. Associated Press writers Aritz Parra in Madrid, Sylvie Corbet in Paris, Yanan Wang in Beijing, Frances D'Emilio in Rome, Joseph Wilson in Barcelona, Spain, Andrew Taylor in Washington, Karel Janicek in Prague, Nick Perry in Christchurch, New Zealand, and Jim Gomez in Manila contributed to this report.

The Associated Press receives support for health and science coverage from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

Trump declares emergency; world steps up fight against virus

March 14, 2020

WASHINGTON (AP) — The United States declared a state of emergency Friday as many European countries went on a war footing amid mounting deaths as the world mobilized to fight the widening coronavirus pandemic.

At the White House, where President Donald Trump made the emergency decree, drug company executives vowed to work together and with the government to quickly expand the country's coronavirus testing capabilities, which are far behind those in many countries.

“We will defeat this threat,” Trump told a news conference. “When America is tested, America rises to the occasion.” While the aggressive spread of the virus in Europe, North America and the Middle East has dashed any hopes for quick containment, dozens of countries have imposed increasingly severe measures over the past couple days — shutting borders, expanding testing, closing school for tens of millions of children and ordering tens of thousands of businesses to close their doors — to try to face down the disease.

The U.S. emergency decree will open up $50 billion for state and local governments to respond to the outbreak, said Trump, who also gave the secretary of health and human services emergency powers to waive federal regulations to give doctors and hospitals “flexibility” in treating patients.

As the U.S. struggles to slow the spread of the virus, the governors of six states — Florida, Iowa, Louisiana, New York, Rhode Island and Washington – sought National Guard troops. Trump's announcement came as tens of millions of students around the world faced weeks without classes, security forces went on standby to guard against large gatherings, and bars, restaurants and offices closed.

While the new coronavirus can be deadly, particularly for the elderly and people with other health problems, for most people it causes only mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough. Some feel no symptoms at all and the vast majority of people recover.

But the spreading pandemic showed that power and influence offer no protection. Among those testing positive were the Canadian prime minister's wife, a top aide to Iran's supreme leader, Miami's mayor, a Brazilian official who met with Trump, and an Australian Cabinet minister who met with the U.S. attorney general and Trump's daughter, Ivanka.

Pressed by reporters, Trump, who also met with the Brazilian official, said he will “most likely" be tested for the virus “fairly soon," reversing an earlier White House statement. Channeling wartime rhetoric and tactics in the face of a microscopic enemy, leaders appealed for solidarity to battle a threat that appeared to expand exponentially. They vowed to protect not just the sick, but those sacrificing their livelihoods and education for the greater good. But new border checks were also on the rise, showing that solidarity had its limits in the face of a fast-moving threat.

In Europe, stocks clawed back some of their losses with promises of financial support from the European Commission, France and Germany, while in the U.S., stocks surged after Trump's announcement. The Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped nearly 2,000 points — its biggest point gain ever.

At the same time, new infections in Italy soared by more than 2,500 and virus-related deaths made their biggest single-day jump there, increasing by 250. In the three weeks since the country identified its first virus cluster, Italy has reached a total of 17,600 confirmed cases, with 1,266 deaths. The government has ordered an unprecedented lockdown, ordering businesses to close and restricting movement.

“Europe has now become the epicenter of the pandemic,” said World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. “More cases are now being reported every day than were reported in China at the height of its epidemic.”

New infections also rose sharply in Spain, and the government put 60,000 people in four towns on a mandatory lockdown Friday that echoed Italy's. In Madrid, which is struggling with nearly 2,000 infections, many in nursing homes, the government was pooling intensive care units and considering offers by hotel chains to transform rooms into sick wards.

In just 24 hours, the numbers of confirmed cases spiked ominously in some places: France saw an additional 800 cases to reach more than 3,600 by Friday; Britain went from 590 to 798 and New York state jumped 30 percent, hitting 421. In Africa, where experts warn that containment is key because of the continent's already-strained health care systems, six new countries confirmed infections.

Cases topped 1,700 across the U.S., where thousands of schools have been closed, concerts and sporting events canceled and even Broadway theaters shut down. Trump has halted his trademark political rallies, following the lead of Democratic rivals Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders.

The spread of the virus in Europe, North America and the Middle East has drawn contrasts with waning outbreaks in the hardest-hit nations in Asia. China, where the virus emerged late last year, still accounts for more than 60% of global infections but reported just eight new cases Friday and seven deaths.

In South Korea, which has had more than 8,000 cases overall, Friday marked the first day that recoveries outnumbered new infections. It reported another 107 cases Saturday. In the U.S., hospitals were setting up circus-like triage tents, calling doctors out of retirement, guarding their supplies of face masks and making plans to cancel elective and non-emergency surgeries as they brace for an expected onslaught of coronavirus patients in the coming weeks.

Trump, who on Thursday ordered a 30-day travel ban for most foreign visitors coming to the U.S. from continental Europe, dismissed criticism that his administration has faced for the slow rollout of testing in the U.S., saying “I don't take responsibility at all" for the problem.

The public-private partnership that Trump announced at the White House will include drive-thru testing in some areas — something already being done in South Korea and Germany — and an online portal to screen those seeking to get tested.

Late Friday, U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced a deal with the Trump administration for an aid package that would provide free tests, sick pay for workers and bolster food programs. The U.S. House was poised to vote on the deal.

Across America, where millions of children depend on school lunches as their main meals, schools were cobbling together ways to keep kids fed, from distributing grand-and-go meal sacks to cafeterias that remained open even as classrooms closed.

In Italy, the town of Codogno, which had all but shut down hours after recording the country's first locally spread coronavirus infection, showed that changing habits do make a difference. New infections have slowed drastically there compared to the rest of Italy, where draconian measures came far later.

“More than a sigh of relief, there was some concern over the risk that all of the sacrifices were in vain,” said Mayor Francesco Passerini. New travel restrictions sprang up practically by the hour on Friday: Switzerland, Sri Lanka, Portugal, the Czech Republic — all started barring entry to Europeans considered at risk. Ukraine announced it would halt all passenger air traffic, Poland said anyone entering the country will be put under a 14-day quarantine, while the Czech Republic and Slovakia have stopped almost all movement in and out of their countries. The European Union urged member countries to put health screening procedures in place at their borders.

Canada and Denmark joined the U.S. in advising citizens to avoid trips abroad, and Americans in Europe caught increasingly rare trans-Atlantic flights back home.

Sullivan reported from Minneapolis. Associated Press writers Lori Hinnant in Paris; Carley Petesch in Dakar; Kim Tong-hyung and Hyung-jin Kim in Seoul, South Korea; Jan Olsen in Copenhagen, Denmark; Cuneyt Dil in Elk Grove, California and Lisa Mascaro, Jill Colvin and Zeke Miller in Washington contributed.

The Associated Press receives support for health and science coverage from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Department of Science Education. The AP is solely responsible for all content.